Frosting early 63 wheel covers

[Troy P.]

What is the correct paint to use to create the frosted look? I don't have any frost left on mine to match.

[Edward J.]

Re: Frosting early 63 wheel covers

Troy, if you can find a dull silver, that’s about the color you would want, The silver around the 63 gauges is would you want to look for. Seymour paints on Amazon sell dull silver, it’s a great match.

[Troy P.]

[Edward J.]

[Troy P.]

Re: Frosting early 63 wheel covers

Since they are rare maybe judges don't exactly know what the frosting should look like and anything close counts?

I don't understand the "thinner radius" applicable to early wheel covers mentioned in the TIMJG. The E. 21.2 photo referred to certainly doesn't tell that story.

So I wonder if I have early wheel covers and a previous owner removed the frosting like I initially assumed? Or do I have incorrect later wheel covers for my #1948 car? If I have the wrong wheel covers maybe no point in trying to paint them.

[Joseph S.]

Re: Frosting early 63 wheel covers

Troy, All of the frosted hub caps I have seen were of the "Thick edge" style. The "Thin edge" style are always fully polished, but I have seen fully polished with the "Thick edge". There could be an overlap period where they had the thick edge but still fully polished them.

I have not seen "Every" hubcap ever made so there may be exceptions to the rule. There always seems to be!!

[Jim L.]

Re: Frosting early 63 wheel covers

I'd be grateful to anyone who could post comparative pictures of thick edge and thin edge '63 wheel covers. My '63 has been in the family for over half a century yet I don't know what these terms mean. Thanks in advance.

[Troy P.]

Re: Frosting early 63 wheel covers

My car should have the early thick edge. But since mine aren't frosted they may have been switched out at some point. I've just been assuming someone removed the frosting. Maybe there is more to it. So before I go to the trouble to frost them I would like to determine if they are early wheel covers like they should be. Thus like Jim I'd like to see the thickness difference.

I spent the day testing quite a few paints and searching the city for Krylon Dull Aluminum. No luck there. But I did find a flat nickle paint that has the darker look that I'm seeing in photos of original covers. Thus I wonder if Dull Aluminum might be too silver and nickle is actually a better match. Nickle paint is not that common and perhaps Dull Aluminum was chosen as the best available at the time?

[Michael V.]

Re: Frosting early 63 wheel covers

I will try to post a picture. Thin ridge is on the left, thick ridge is on the right.

Mike

[Michael V.]

Re: Frosting early 63 wheel covers

Two more detailed pictures regarding the difference between thick (top picture) and thin (bottom picture) lip 1963 Corvette hubcaps. Hope this helps.

[Joseph S.]

Re: Frosting early 63 wheel covers

Mike, Great photos!!

[Jim L.]

Re: Frosting early 63 wheel covers

Mike, Great photos!!

I agree! They clear up the distinction between the two types of covers nicely. Thanks for posting them.

[Troy P.]

Re: Frosting early 63 wheel covers

Boy am I glad you went to the trouble to post those photos. I thought the difference being discussed was in the width of the rim visible once installed. Turns out it is the depth.

The good news is I do have the correct covers. So now I'm back in the mode of having to frost them...which looks to be a royal pain. I have Krylon Dull Aluminum paint on order. That is a paint suggested in an archived post.

I'm assuming you can't paint directly onto polished stainless and need something like a self etching primer as a base coat. Any thoughts on that?

[Joseph S.]

Re: Frosting early 63 wheel covers

Troy, The factory paint was directly over the stainless. Scuff them up a bit, make sure they are very clean and spray!

[Troy P.]

Re: Frosting early 63 wheel covers

BTW just read an old post about frosting 64 wheel covers that is very interesting. One approach that was used successfully was to bead blast the covers to provide the frosted look. Passed judging. I may do that as I have a blast cabinet and it looks easier than priming and painting.

Also while I was searching every store in town for Dull Aluminum I found quite a variety of paints that just provide frost and no color. Seems to me those paints could provide the desired results. If I had a spare wheel cover I'd definitely experiment with those.